Written from a personal, creative, professional perspective, Hillman drills deep into nine high-profile Flash projects that he¿s created. He explains why and how he designed the project as he did; then he deconstructs and explains step-by-step the major aspects of that project¿s Flash component. All screenshots have been updated to show how each project is create using Flash 5The chapter that drills deeply into ActionScript (Chapter 8, MANIFESTIVAL deconstruction, Understanding Flash ActionScripting), has been rewritten from the ground up to show how this is done in Flash 5¿s considerably changed ActionScripting environment.

Curtis is chief creative officer and founder of hillmancurtis, inc., a New York City design firm that has produced stunning Flash work for clients like 3Com, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and even Macromedia itself.

The book deconstructs nine high-profile Flash projects created for real-life clients. Curtis takes time both in the introductions and throughout the project deconstructions, to emphasise the importance of thinking about and applying design-led principals to the job at hand.

One of the things that makes Curtis successful is his approach to motion, and it's here that the book has the most to offer. Curtis defines what he calls a Global Visual Language "comprised of simple symbology and motion," which makes it possible to communicate a powerful message across cultural barriers.

Projects include designing a $20,000 ad, animating a 3D wireframe and converting video to vectors in order to overcome bandwidth constraints. In the penultimate chapter, Todd Purgason provides an indispensible guide to producing print-based client presentations using FreeHand.

As a tutorial, the book is less successful. The project deconstructions take the form of numbered walk-throughs with accompanying illustrations and screen shots. The design is busy, and the lack of a CD showing finished projects makes it difficult to know what you're working towards.

But, for an insight into what makes Flash motion work and how you can put it to good use, this is a book from which you can learn a great deal. --Ken McMahon, Amazon.co.uk